You can see the symptoms wherever you turn. Everyone is wearing Seahawks jerseys. Flags with the number “12” hang from most every building, honoring the noisy fans of CenturyLink Stadium who serve as the team’s “12th Man” on the field. Dogs are wearing Seahawks gear. The Boeing factory has a massive banner hanging from its roof. Sports talk radio blares from most every car, coffee shop and bar.

To the good people of Seattle, Sunday’s matchup against the 49ers isn’t just another football game. It’s the NFC Championship Game. It’s a trip to the Super Bowl. And it’s a chance for redemption.

“Seattle is a city down on its sports luck,” said Brian “The Captain” Abker, a sports radio host for KJR 950 in Seattle. “We lost the Sonics. The Mariners stink. But Pete Carroll has brought a new attitude to this town. And the city has bought in.”

I was chatting to Abker between segments of his popular show, which he was conducting from the Sport Restaurant and Bar right across the street from the Space Needle. The bar was jammed with Seahawks fans … and a surprising number of 49ers’ fans, too.

The previous night, word had gotten around town that 49er fans were going to have a rally at that same bar. But when the owner found out, he told arriving Niner types that there would be no such festivities on his premises. They were welcome to come in for a beer or three, but no red and gold rally. Not in a Seahawks bar.

“Last year, people felt something special was going on,” said Abker. “Even after that terrible loss to Atlanta in the playoffs. People talked Seahawks football all summer long.”

About 25 miles south of the slick confines of the Sport Restaurant, the locals were gathering at the Red Dog Saloon in Maple Valley. It’s a shot and a beer place that oozes with Seahawks fans. Real Seahawks fans who remember the dark days in the Kingdome, before Carroll came to town. Back when Knox and Zorn and Largent roamed the sidelines of Seattle.

Ted McBurney, 50, was born and raised in the area, a rural enclave that’s slowly giving way to suburban sprawl.

“I never remember it being like this,” said McBurney, a grown man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a Seahawks gamer. “Anywhere you go, you have total Seahawks atmosphere. I was driving around with my jersey on the other day. Stopped at a light. And the guy across the intersection was waving at me! It’s crazy.”

Bartender Donna Christie survived a Seahawks disaster the previous weekend. In the fourth quarter of the ‘Hawks divisional playoff against the Saints, the power went off at the Red Dog. And people freaked out.

“We were panicking,” said Christie, wearing her very own Richard Sherman jersey. “People were trying to watch it on their phones. And then they just all bolted out of here to get home for the finish. It was alright. Everyone came back and paid their tabs.”

Back in Seattle, a city of deep blues and greens shrouded in cool clouds, the place hummed along on a steady caffeine buzz. Seahawks fans flooded the streets. The party was on.

As Saturday morning turned into afternoon, one could see just a little more red and gold, here and there. Unphased by ticket restrictions and Internet vitriol, the 49er Faithful had arrived to see if their boys could get back to the Super Bowl.

Sitting with his young son at the Sport bar, Aaron Crossley, 36, proudly wore his 49ers’ jersey, just like his boy, Asher. The Crossleys moved to Seattle from San Francisco five years ago. And they brought their love of the 49ers’ with them.

“I’m a 49ers fan because I was born there,” said young Asher, 5. “And because they’re good.”

Crossley the elder pointed out that it’s not always easy being a 49er fan in Seahawk country.

“I showed up at my office yesterday and my co-workers had painted all the walls blue and green,” he said. “They put 12-man flags all over my desk. They got me pretty good.”

Crossley explained that when he grew up in the Bay Area, it was always Dallas or Los Angeles that Niners’ fans hated.

Now, it’s Seattle.

“You wear your 49ers’ jersey around town and people look at you funny,” said Crossley. “A guy started yelling at me at Costco the other day. It’s crazy.”